Muhammad Asad (pronounced [ˈmoʊ̯hämæd ˈæsæd], Urdu: محمد أسد‎, born Leopold Weiss; 2 July 1900 – 20 February 1992) was a Jewish-born Austro-Hungarian journalist, traveler, writer, linguist, thinker, political theorist, diplomat and Islamic scholar. Asad was one of the most influential European Muslims of the 20th century.By the age of thirteen, young Weiss had acquired a passing fluency in Hebrew and Aramaic, other than his native languages German and Polish.